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"Mr Lightwood" Babs said "Your presence is required at the Clark House"
Briar stood at the doorframe of his cabin in silence. He looked around, no other soldiers were around. He stared at Babs again; the woman stood with her hands behind her back and a straight face. Despite being the youngest (and only) woman of the Clarks guard, Babs was way more imposing and respectable than many other soldiers he had seen throughout his life
She was in charge of the emerald merchandising in town, born and raised as a townsie, just like Briar, and April, and everyone else, and despite being treated as a usual soldier, being let into the luxurious life of the nobles and the rich and them Babs kept being loyal to the townies, that was something Briar respected
"And why is that for? if I may ask
"I'm not sure" she responded, loosing ever the smallest part of her confident posture "but the Queen requires you for this afternoon, before the sun sets"
The Queen, of course. Briar sighed "seems that I always go back to the Clarks he tough to Kass, to Cissy, to him."
"All right" he said "let's hope i don't get eaten alive this afternoon, then"
Babs smiled sadly "Let's hope"
It was simply a joke, something to light up the mood, even though they both knew that was gonna happen (even if Briar wasn't getting eaten alive) wasn't in any way, something to laugh about. When they, when the Queen, asked to see someone personally, before sunset, it was never a good omen, much less if you were a townie
Most townies were found hanging at the townsquare the next morning
Babs left, mumbling something about a reunion Briar did not care to know about. Once again, he was left alone in the quiet of his cabin. With a sigh, he closed the door and went back inside.
__________________________________________
The Clark house was much bigger than Briar remembered, it standed against the clear winter sky; with its black towers and the excessive amount of spikes on top of the gates, it looked more like a prision than the royal castle
Then again, they were much more interested in being feared than they were in taste
Briar felt like a little kid standing against such a dark estructure, intimidated, small, weak. It also didn't help that, the last memory he had of this castle was...that wedding
"No" Briar scolded himself "the past is past. It's behind me now "
"Ehem...Mr Lightwood?" the servant in front if the gates asked. Briar almost flinched. He didn't realized he kept staring at the gates l
"Oh, yeah, sorry" Briar replied "could you please...?"
"Of course"
The young man pulled a complicated system of strings that allowed the gates to open. Briar thank him and walked inside the front garden alone, admiring the bushes full of flowers and the trees filled with fruits before walking into the Clark House
Some servants approached him and guided him to the throne room, where the Queen awaited for him
In all her dark glory, Kass was sitting in a pitch black throne full of spikes, with her hair neatly put up, her dark blue dress had long sleeves that connected to her ring finger, she was wearing a long dark blue gown and a crown that, just like her throne, was full of spikes. Kass was always regarded as the lesser of her kind, with her golden hair and her small bright green eyes, she looked more like a townie than part of them, but sitting in the dark throne, full of dark and blue colors? Briar though it was the first time he saw her and felt scared
"You may leave, now" Kass told the servants who were accompanying Briar
They flinched and left running as fast as they could. Kass directed her ice cold stared at him
"Your majesty"
"Briar" She responded, and a wretched grin was drawn on her face "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Indeed"
Kass smile grew wider "You fear me"
"I think we all should fear our Queen, shouldn't we?"
<
"I think" Kass laughed, a sick, cold laugh "But you shouldn't be afraid of a friend"
"We are not friends" Briar wanted to say "You are the worst of your kind, not because you're weak, but because you are not."
"Of course, your majesty"
Kass smiled again "Briar, let me ask you something, you are the best hunter in town, isn't that right?"
"That's what the townies say"
"Would you consider...doing a favor for a friend?" Kass tapped her long, dark nails against the armrest of the throne "I need you to hunt me something"
Briar felt the tension in his shoulders leave ever so slightly "just a hunt, a regular hunt of a random animal and them she'll leave me alone"
"Well, Ican do that, what do you need me to hunt?"
"The princess"
Briars blood turned cold "What?"
"The princess" Kass replied "I need you to hunt my niece"
Bianca Clark Hwang. The faceless princess of Pangaea. The tragic girl who lost her father to illness and her mother to madness. The next of them in line of the crown. His and Cissy's daughter
"Your majesty..." Briar replied "With all due respect...i have never...i cannot..."
"Oh it won't be hard" Kass replied "The girl is animalistic, way too close to...your kind"
"Your majesty..." Briar insisted "The girl is twelve, she'll learn"
"It's not about that" Kass replied "she's a threath, do you know how hard I have worked for this position? i cannot let a heir walk around the castle like if it's nothing"
"Your majesty" Briar spoke up "I can't... don't...I won't, I won't hunt the girl"
The Queens smiled turned into a cold face, she studied Briar up and down with a dissapointed expression and rested her head in her left hand
"Why won't you? it's not different from any of your other hunts"
"It's a human, a twelve year old girl at that"
A cold silence filled the room, Briar could feel the way his finger curled at the cold in the castle, as if the winter itself has crawled inside of the dark towers just to mess with him
"You know Briar, you are a very well liked man in the community, You know?" Kass replied "The men talk wonders of your work and the women let you watch over their children when they run around town alone"
Briar clenched his fist at his sides. What was she even talking about? "what game are you playing Kassandra, i don't like it"
"Yes...it would be a shame if the town that adores you would become aware of your...unusual preferences in affections"
Briar turned pale, he unclenched his fists and he stared at her cold eyes, almost pleading No. No no no, how did she even know? She wasn't suppose to know
That was his secret, his own shame, his burden to carry, the reason he lived outside town, despite being offered countless houses and opportunities before, he needed to stay away from the normal people, just enough so they didn't noticed just how bent and unnatural he was, he needed to punish himself with exile before anyone could notice what exactly was wrong with him
"Kass"
"And with the poor deceased King, no less" she pointed out "what could be more shameful? what would you do if they knew?"
"Kass, stop it, stop"
"But they don't have to know, Briar" Kass replied "just do this one thing, for your friend, or let them find out about your... preferences"
"Kass" he begged
"Don't be like that, i was not the one that made you choose your ways Briar" She responded "I didn't made you to be as wrong and as dirty as you humans see my kind, i didn't made you a monster Briar, just as no one made me what I am. No one made me a witch"
Briar wanted to run away, he wanted to scream, to throw a hundred arrows into that witches chest just to see her leave this world quietly and painfully. What he did, in the end, was listen quietly, with his eyes stuck in his boot, to the instruction the Queen gave to him to find Bianca and kill her
Briar let out a heavy sight as he took a bow and an arrow. Bianca was the last piece of him that was left in this world. The faceless princess was the last thing Arthur made with love (or at least, he hoped he did) before leaving this world. A little girl, who had no fault in the plans of her wretched aunt. Just another victim of the witches mad hunt for power and riches
"What a poor girl" Briar though "witch or not, she's too small for this whole mess"